The role of renal transporters and novel regulatory interactions in the TAL that control blood pressure

Hypertension (HTN), a major public health issue is currently the leading factor in the global burden of disease, where associated complications account for 9.4 million deaths worldwide every year (98). Excessive dietary salt intake is among the environmental factors that contribute to HTN, known as salt sensitivity. The heterogeneity of salt sensitivity and the multiple mechanisms that link high salt intake to increases in blood pressure are of upmost importance for therapeutic application. A continual increase in the kidney's reabsorption of sodium (Na+) relies on sequential actions at various segments along the nephron. When the distal segments of the nephron fail to regulate Na+, the effects on Na+ homeostasis are unfavourable. We propose that the specific nephron region where increased active uptake occurs as a result of variations in Na+ reabsorption is at the thick ascending limb of the loop of Henle (TAL). The purpose of this review is to urge the consideration of the TAL that contributes to the pathophysiology of salt sensitive HTN. Further research in this area will enable development of a therapeutic application for targeted treatment

The Energetics and Mass-loss of Mrk33

We present ROSAT HRI X-ray data and optical imaging of the important dwarf starburst Markarian 33. We find an extended, complex, shell-like morphology in the X-ray emission, with an extent of 2.3 x 1.9kpc, coincident with the bright star-forming regions at the centre of the galaxy. The physical extent of this X-ray emission from Mrk 33 is very similar to the observed Halpha emission, and suggests that the bulk of the X-ray emission is coming from an expanding superbubble. We estimate the age and mass of Mrk 33's starburst to be 5.8 Myr and 6.9 x 10^{6} Msolar respectively with the energy injection rate in the central regions of the galaxy being 10^{41} erg/s, while the associated mass-loss rate from the star-forming regions is estimated to be 0.2 Msolar/yr. We suggest that the X-ray emission is predominantly powered by starburst type activity and argue that a blowout in the form of a galactic wind is the most likely fate for Mrk 33 resulting in the loss of most of the galaxy's metal-enriched material and a small fraction (<1 per cent) of the ISM.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Preparing Youth for College and Career: A Process Evaluation of Urban Alliance

Urban Alliance, headquartered in Washington, DC, serves at-risk youth through its high school internship program, which provides training, mentoring, and work experience to high school seniors from distressed communities in Washington, DC; Baltimore; Northern Virginia; and Chicago. The program serves youth before they become disconnected, helping them successfully transition to higher education or employment after graduation. Urban Alliance has commissioned the Urban Institute to conduct a six-year, randomized controlled trial impact and process evaluation of its high school internship program. This report provides a process analysis of the program; the analysis is informed by extensive evaluator observation and interviews with staff, stakeholders, and youth. It also presents baseline information about Urban Alliance and the youth participating in its high school internship program in Washington, DC, and Baltimore in the 2011–12 and 2012–13 program years. Subsequent reports as part of the impact study will describe the early-adulthood impacts of the Urban Alliance internship program on the youth it serves. Below is a summary of the findings in this first of three reports

The protective scale of the Armidilo‐S:the importance of forensic and clinical outcomes

Background: The Armidilo has two scales—the risk scale and the protective scale. Research has been confined to the risk scale which appears to predict future incidents with medium to large effect sizes. There have been no publications on the use of the protective scale.Methods: The Armidilo was completed on four individuals with IDD who were either moving on from their placement or whose placement was in jeopardy because of new information or altered policies in the organization. The Armidilo was completed in the usual fashion.Results: Risk and protective results show that for each individual, recommendations could be made that ensured the best outcome. For two participants, restrictive placements were avoided because of the data on protective factors.Conclusions: The protective scale can be a powerful support for the clinician's case in offenders with IDD. The protective scale should be completed routinely for clinical evaluation

Land-Use Legacies of Cultivation in Shrublands: Ghosts in the Ecosystem

Shrublands across the West are currently threatened by land uses such as urban sprawl, energy development, and agricultural development which impact ecosystem function through altered fire cycles, expansion of invasive species, modified hydrology, and intensified soil erosion. Historically, shrubland ecosystems have already been impacted by many of these same disturbances. Unlike our forested ecosystems, much of the land-use history in our shrublands has been forgotten or ignored. But our human endeavor can leave lasting changes on the landscape, referred to as “land-use legacies”, for decades to centuries. Looking for land-use legacies does not equate with looking for someone to blame. People have always sought to use the resources from the land on which they live. By not recognizing land-use legacies, however, we are not taking full advantage of the potential to learn about how shrublands respond to and recover from a myriad of disturbances. This paper will highlight one of the overlooked land uses within shrublands associated with homesteading - cultivation. Understanding what has happened on the landscape in the past can offer a great deal of information regarding its potential in the future

Putting a Stop to Sprawl: State Intervention as a Tool for Growth Management

Sprawl is America\u27s most lethal disease. Although such a statement appears exaggerated upon first consideration, both the scope of urban sprawl and its attendant consequences support the suggestion that sprawl threatens the vitality of the United States. For example, in California, sprawl has reached such a dangerous level that one of the nation\u27s largest banks publicly warned of the potential devastation: Sprawl has created enormous costs that California can no longer afford. Ironically, unchecked sprawl has shifted from an engine of California\u27s growth to a force that now threatens to inhibit growth and degrade the quality of our life. The costs California faces-including damage to the environment, depletion of fiscal resources, and deterioration of inner cities-are not unique but rather similarly jeopardize the future of states throughout the nation. Sprawl, defined as the process in [sic] which the spread of development across the landscape far outpaces population growth, is generally identified by an I-know-it-when-I-see it approach. As a result, it is helpful to consider what sprawl is not in order to understand what sprawl is. Specifically, sprawl is not the traditional American neighborhood, best characterized by mixed-use communities in which residents can walk to satisfy their daily needs. Rather, sprawl consists of developments that rapidly consume available land beyond the outermost boundaries of established cities-developments in which citizens cannot walk to work or to the grocery store but are required to drive almost everywhere. Such developments typically evoke images of large housing subdivisions and freestanding cookie- cutter homes, strip malls, big box stores such as Target or Walmart, parking lots, and six-lane highways. Sprawl effectively has five distinct components, none of which overlaps with any other: housing subdivisions, shopping centers, office parks, civic institutions, and roadways. Ultimately, sprawl\u27s characteristic leapfrog growth pattern almost always results in low-density, single-use developments on the fringes of established cities

Frequency-dependent and correlational selection pressures have conflicting consequences for assortative mating in a color-polymorphic lizard, Uta stansburiana

Acknowledgments We would like to thank the numerous undergraduate researchers involved with this project for their invaluable assistance in lizard rearing and data collection. We also thank D. Haisten, A. Runemark, Y. Takahashi, and M. Verzijden for insightful comments on the manuscript. This project was funded by National Science Foundation DEBOS-15973 to A.G.M. and B.R.S.Peer reviewedPublisher PD